Tuscan Garlic Chicken

Once when I was at The Olive Garden, a server handed me a recipe card on my way out. Little did I know then what a treat that was. Here is Olive Garden's Tuscan Garlic Chicken.

(although their picture is much more appetizing)

I was going to post the recipe. Instead, I found it on their website and included a link here.

Yummy - I'll give it a 4.

ps: Both my sister and I have made this dish multiple times both with white wine and without and I must say we both prefer without.

Apricot Shrimp

Served over rice, this is an excellent mid week meal, and not too hard to prepare

Apricot Shrimp

1 green pepper, julienned

1 red pepper, julienned

1/4 c. green onions

1 clove garlic

2 tsp. canola oil

1/2 lb shrimp

1/2 c sliced chestnuts

2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 c chicken broth

3 Tbsp apricot jam

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame seeds

Heat oil in a large skillet or wok and add onions and garlic, shrimp and remaining vegetables. In a bowl, combine cornstarch, chicken broth, jam, soy sauce and sesame seeds. When shrimp and vegetables are cooked to desired doneness, pour sauce and cook for another 1/2 minutes or until bubbly and slightly thickened. Serve over prepared rice.

Scrumptious Apple Crisp

My thanks to Jacksons for this recipe!

Butter a 9x13 baking dish; peel, chop or grate enough apples to fill pan about 2/3 full of apples.

Mix:

1 c sugar

3 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 c water

Pour over apples. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Sprinkle with topping.

Topping:

1 c flour

1 c. sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 to 3 Tbsp butter or margarine

1 egg

Mix dry ingredients. Work margarine in with a fork or pastry blender. Work in egg with a fork.. Sprinkle over apples.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with caramel topping and ice cream.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Rasberry Sauce

 

1/2 Cup water

3/4 Cup white sugar

18 squares of bittersweet chocolate (1 ounce squares) or 18 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I think the chocolate chips are just as good and I have them on hand)

1 Cup butter

6 eggs

Preheat oven at 300 degrees. Grease a 9 or 10 inch round cake  pan.

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water over medium heat. Stir until completely dissolved. Set aside.
Melt chocolate in double boiler or microwave and pour it into a bowl of an electric mixer. Cut butter into pieces and beat into chocolate one at a time. Beat in hot sugar water. Slowly beat in eggs, one at a time.

Pour mixture in to the prepared pan. Cook cake in water bath. I used a 9x13 pan and filled it half-way with water. Bake in water bath for 45 to 50 minutes. I found that 45 minutes was not enough in my oven. It is best when the top of the cake turns into a sort of hard crust that is a slightly lighter color.

After you remove from oven, let it cool. Then put in the refrigerator over night (at the very least 4 hours) or in the freezer for an hour.  Dip in hot water for about 10 seconds to help remove it from pan onto serving plate.

Rasberry Sauce
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 to 2 cups of raspberries (blackberries work too, you want it very tart to offset the rich chocolate)

Combine sugar, water, and cornstarch in saucepan and bring to boil. Add berries and boil, stirring until thickened.

Serve with berry topping and whip topping.

Goddess Salad

Goddess Salad

(another favorite from my awesome cousin Melanie)

Greens *

Chicken pieces (cooked of course!)

Avocados, sliced

Red Onion Slivers

Fresh Mushrooms, sliced

Seasoned Pita Chips, crushed a little

Goddess Dressing (I like Trader Joes)

*I try to always use spinach for its nutritional content but use what YOU prefer:)

Cheese Flan

I have a neighbor from Puerto Rico who kindly shared this recipe. It is so yummy and probably the reason I gained 2 lbs this week. Here is her recipe:

Cheese Flan

For Caramel:

1 c sugar

1/4 c water

5 drops lemon

For Custard:

12 oz can evaporated milk

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

5 eggs

8 oz cream cheese

1 Tbsp vanilla

To make caramel, put ingredients in pot and slowly cook until the mixture is clear and golden in color. Place mixture in pie pan. Warning: Caramel will be REALLY hot! Let cool and set aside while making the flan custard.

Mix ingredients for flan custard in a blender until well blended.. Pour into pie pan and bake for 1 hour at 350.

notes

*I have a different recipe that uses a bain-marie or water bath and so I did half and half to compare (which is why my flan is so thin). It made quite the difference in texture AND taste! Even my husband thought so. Conclusion: use water bath! (Place pie dish or casserole dish in slightly larger dish then fill remaining space of larger dish with water) Bake at 300 or 325 (depending on your oven) for 45-50 minutes.

*Next time I may try a couple less eggs. It was pretty thick. Anyone else have a good flan recipe?

Sweet Potato Fries

Technically, these little morsels shouldn't be called "fries" because

they're baked, not fried. But 'Sweet Potato Sticks' doesn't sound nearly as

appetizing, now does it.:)

I first saw this recipe on how does she? and was skeptical about how they would turn out so I made traditional baked sweet potatoes (with cinnamon sugar) as well as the experimental fries to go along with our steaks. I should have made them all fries because they were so good! And all three kids ate them too! Yum! We may never have to eat deep fried 'fries' again!

5 star rating because even as full as I was, I couldn't help but finish off

the last of them. This is all that was left by the time I got my hands on my

camera. For better, more appetizing photos click here.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

2 or 3 good sized red yams

olive oil

grated parmesan, yes the stuff in the green can

(my sweet gammy always called this par-ME-san)

Peel then cut the potatoes into strips, or sticks. Put in a large bowl and toss with a couple tablespoons olive oil and grated parmesan until evenly coated. Spread on foil covered cookie sheet and roast at 425 for 30 minutes, turning every 10-15 minutes. Serve with favorite dipping sauce. I like traditional Utah fry sauce, which is equal parts ketchup and mayonnaise. (Well, I probably favor the ketchup a little)

*Note: images are from different batches. I tried skins on but think I prefer no skins:)